Why Voice Search is the Next Big Thing for SEO

“OK Google, find me a good restaurant nearby.” We bet you might’ve used this phrase at least once. If you ever asked Google Assistant to look for restaurants or places and got right what you were looking for, it could mean this: Voice search is catching up, and that too fast.

What is voice search anyway?

Voice search allows users to instantly search for things by saying words and phrases through a microphone rather than typing them in a search field.

So, if you’ve used Google’s Assistant or Apple’s Siri to ask something like “Book me a table at the nearest restaurant.” or “Who is Elon Musk?”, there, you’ve performed a voice search.

There are countless people who use their voice for helping them with tasks, looking up information, and location using their smartphones or smart speakers.

In fact, it is estimated that 50% of all the searches on the internet will be voice-based searches by 2020.

What does this means for businesses? It means voice search is said to affect SEO in a big way.

Here are some reasons why:

People have grown used to using voice assistants.

People are buying more voice-enabled smart speakers.

People need quick results without needing to type.

AI has made voice searching simpler and natural.

From these pointers, we can make out how important voice search is with regards to SEO.

As a majority of people will use their voice to search for things, crafting your SEO tactics around voice trends will significantly help you rank in search engines.

This is how voice search is said to revolutionize SEO:

Semantic Search

Google has become smarter and it just doesn’t rely on keywords to show you what you’re looking for. It will dig deeper and carry out meaningful searches by understanding your intent to deliver accurate results. This is what’s called semantic search.

For example:

When you search for the keyword “movies san diego”, Google predicts you’re likely looking for “movie times in San Diego” rather than “movies about San Diego”. That’s semantic search for you.

It improves search accuracy in a great way. So, if you’re planning to rank organically for voice, optimizing for semantic search is a good place to start.

Voice Engine Optimization

Smart speakers have already become a common place amongst consumers and the trend is said to rise even more in the coming years. Along with smart assistants, these speakers will be used to carry out more specific tasks like booking tickets for movies, ordering food online etc.

What this essentially means is more number of people will use their smart speakers to search for queries locally. This has given rise to voice engine optimization: Optimizing your content for search engine results carried out through voice search.

This will make marketers and businesses adopt unique strategies in order to stay ahead of the crowd.

Human-centric Content

Here’s the thing: The results that rank better for voice searches are written for humans.

If you’re still thinking the most effective strategy for ranking is optimizing for search engines, you might be wrong. The new trend? It will be human-friendly content optimized for consumers that might prove more effective.

As ranking will be a major part of your SEO strategy, you might want to write more human friendly content to rank for voice searches.

With a lot of new trends sprouting up and due to the changing ways in which people perform search, you might have to rethink your own SEO strategy.

Here’s what you can do:

Try Implementing Long-tail Keywords.

Long-tail keywords are key phrases which can help rank your content for voice results. Compared to short-tail keywords, long-tail keywords will make your content look more user-friendly and natural.

As these keywords are more conversational in nature, they are more easier to rank. Long-tail keywords also cost less and have a lower competition than short-tail keywords.

For example, instead of adding broad keywords in your content like “athletic clothing”, you can use something like “top summer athletic clothing” to raise your chance of getting searched.

You can also use long-tail keywords to rank in YouTube searches by optimizing your video titles and descriptions for YouTube voice search.

Optimize Informative Content for Search Queries

When writing content, make sure it is written in such a way that it answers questions in a specific way. Focusing on the Why, Who, Where, How, and What will help you optimize for specific voice queries.

Blogs are a great way to use long-tail keywords and question phrases. For example, you can use question phrases starting with “hows” and “whys” for informative posts such as “How to Turn On Voice Search?” or keywords like “where” for location-based content.

Get Your Google My Business Listing in Place.

For local searches this is quite important. You can fetch more customers if your local business is optimized for voice search.

For this reason, getting your business information updated on Google’s My Business Listing is absolutely essential if you want to stay ahead of the game.

The takeaway? Optimize not only your content for queries but also your My Business profile.

Here’s what we found when we performed a voice search for “What is atop digital”

Upon asking, Google Assistant brings up our Google My Business profile. What’s even great, it also provides links to our website, a calling option, and directions to our office.

It’s one of the best things you can do to rank for local searches.

Optimize for Responsive Websites and Featured Snippets.

We’ve said this before and would like to stress it again: Mobile-friendly websites are a priority!

Without a mobile-friendly website, your chances of ranking for voice queries are practically non-existent. They’re quick to load and can help you rank better.

It’s seen that Google presents relevant information in the form of featured snippets for those websites that’re mobile-friendly.

If you haven’t already made your website responsive, now is the time to do so. You can also take help of our cost-effective web design services if you’re planning to give a mobile-friendly makeover to your website.

By organizing and structuring the data on your website using schema markup, you can give search engines and voice-enabled devices more information about your data. This will then enable search engines to crawl better and make your content a lot more visible.

It’s no doubt voice search is the next big thing when it comes to SEO. Whether you’re an owner of a personal website or a local business, optimizing for voice search will significantly boost your rankings.

If you’re not sure what strategy will help you rank for voice searches or need help in crafting a great voice search SEO strategy, it’s always recommended to seek help of a strategist or a team of SEO experts. They can help you plan and prepare a solid strategy for your business.

We can also help you out. We are a top-tier digital marketing agency who specialize in SEO and Content Marketing. We can help you rank your website on search engines using the best tested strategies. Visit us by checking out our SEO packages and let us help you rank on top.